


And Grey Wind Blows Over White Snow

by Natteravn



Category: Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Baby Animals, Brotherly Love, Family, Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Wolf Puppies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-07-15
Updated: 2011-07-15
Packaged: 2018-04-19 00:51:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,160
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4726607
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Natteravn/pseuds/Natteravn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jon finds himself with an armful of white fur that won't settle down.</p>
            </blockquote>





	And Grey Wind Blows Over White Snow

**Author's Note:**

> Brotherfic between Jon and Robb/Ghost and Grey Wind from July 2011. Based on this prompt by rachel2205 in the community stark_n_snow on LJ: _How do Ghost and Grey Wind get on? I mean, I don't want you to ship the direwolves, weird. But maybe incorporate them into a story playing together or something, it could be cute_.
> 
> Enjoy the (re)read!
> 
> \---
> 
> **Disclaimer:** Nothing written in my fanfictions is real – I have made absolutely everything up. I do not own any of these characters, they belong exclusively to their author. I make no profit from my writing, and I do not mean to offend or harass anyone with my works.

A snow white ball of fur uncurled and opened its bright red eyes. It stretched, yawned and took a look around, noticing the warm fire burning and the dark shadows dancing in the corners, before it let out an unhappy whimper. Something stirred on the bed beside it and it whimpered again, louder this time, but without any success. The ball crawled over to the sleeping creature, noticing the bare foot hanging out, and licked a stripe up its ankle, making the creature kick hard and turn over.

The puppy whimpered desperately and hit at the creature’s foot with its tiny paw. The only response it got was a grunt muffled by a pillow and more kicks. Eventually it gave up, sat down with a determined scowl and barked loudly. The other figure sat up, half-shocked, and looked down at the white fuzzball. Then he frowned and rubbed his eyes.

“Go to sleep,” he muttered. The ball of fur barked louder. Jon rolled his eyes at the thing. Lord Stark had told his kids to be firm and strict with the wolves from the get-go, otherwise the beasts would never find it in their heart to respect them. One thing he had told them that the creatures should not be allowed to do, was to join the kids in their bed. They had to sleep beside it, and that was final. No exceptions.

Jon looked down at the snow white fuzzball with the red eyes. He couldn’t help but think that the creature looked kind of creepy. Like it was dead, but had been raised from the dead again. It just felt so unnatural to have a completely white beast with such red eyes by his bed, staring up at him with a pained, sore look. But while he was sort of disgusted by the creature, he still felt sorry for it. It was probably in the same position as he was himself — a part of the pack, but not a real member, not really rightfully belonging to the litter.

The big, bright eyes widened and the fuzzball whimpered again. Jon swore. Okay, fuck whatever Lord Stark had said. Neither him nor the wolf would get any sleep if he let it stay on the floor. He bent down, grabbed it by its neck and lifted it up on the bed. It found a warm, cozy spot by his stomach, and curled itself up.

Jon had just managed to get comfortable and was seconds away from wonderland when the puppy whimpered again. He groaned and pushed himself up on his elbows, looking down at the little thing. The big, red eyes were pleading.

“What do you _want_?”

The fuzzball whimpered again and Jon rolled his eyes at it. It probably had trouble sleeping. He put the blanket tighter around his shoulders and laid down again. Only seconds passed before the puppy started rubbing its head against his stomach, more lonely whimpers escaping its throat.

“Seriously, you- you _wolf_. I’m trying to sleep here.”

The red eyes pleaded again, and they seemed to get deeper and sadder the further Jon stared into them.

There had to be something wrong. Dogs slept easily, didn’t they? So wolves probably did too, but the puppy was too restless to settle. Maybe it was thirsty, or hungry. In that case, there was little he could do about it now, late at night. Could it be the heat? Not that the room was overheated, but for an animal which was used to living north of the wall, this probably felt like the boiling hot days they had down in Essos. Either way, it was hard to do something about it. If he put out the fire, he would freeze and not be able to sleep himself. The heat might not even be the creature’s problem.

All of a sudden, the puppy jumped out of the bed and trotted over to the door. It sat down, whimpering, and began scratching at the wood. Jon cringed at the sound. Quickly, he jumped out of the bed and picked up the puppy.

“You can’t scratch the door. It’ll waken the others.”

The fuzball obviously didn’t understand a word, just wriggled to get loose, stretching its paws out toward the door. Jon tightened his hold on the thing and placed it back on the bed, but the fuzzball just jumped out immediately and went back to the door. Jon sighed. Maybe it just needed to get some fresh air. He grabbed his coat and opened the door before the fuzzball could scratch the thing to bits.

The little puppy was out of the room as soon as the door was open enough for it to wriggle its tiny body out. Jon stared after the thing — slightly taken aback — as it sprinted down the dark hall, its small paws sounding very loud in the big, empty and very quiet hallway. Jon threw his coat back into his room and ran after the fuzzball. He couldn’t risk the damn thing waking up the entire Stark family. Lady Stark would have his head.

To his astonishment, the puppy stopped outside Robb’s room. It sat down, whimpered carefully and waggled its tail back and forth so fast that it was a wonder it didn’t fall off.

“You can’t go in there,” Jon whispered, not wanting to wake Robb who most definitely had fallen asleep long time ago. Unlike Jon, Robb usually had everything under control. His wolf was probably acting like an _angel_ , sleeping neatly on its fur by the bed. Not like the dead thing of a wolf that Jon had found that didn’t want to settle, not even when he let it join him in bed (which he wasn’t even allowed to do).

He had just picked up the thing when he heard small paws padding over the floor on the other side of the door. Seconds later, there was scratching on the door, and something joined in in his white fuzzball’s whimper choir. A low voice hissed ‘shut the fuck up’.

Jon opened the door, immediately greeted by another fuzzball, a grey thing jumping up and down in excitement and waggling its tail happily. The white puppy in his arms wriggled worse than before, desperate to get down on the ground to play with its brother. Jon stared down at the jumping creature and placed his own carefully next to it.

The grey one pounced on the white, and they ended up rolling on the floor until the grey one got the upper hand and pinned the other down. They barked at each other; first it sounded like tense hisses, then they softened and the white bit the grey’s ear.

Jon smiled, though a little astounded, at the wolves’ game. Then he looked up, meeting Robb’s eyes. He was sitting in his bed, he too watching the puppies. He didn’t look like he had been able to sleep yet, either.

“He-eh… wouldn’t go to sleep, and I thought, you know…? And then he just ran and- I couldn’t-” Jon tried to explain, realising that he was just babbling and probably not making any sense. Robb grinned.

“‘s fine. He wouldn’t settle down, either.” He nodded at the two furballs on the floor, and made a gesture toward the grey one. It was licking the white one behind its ear. “Cute, aren’t they.”

Jon nodded and smiled carefully.

“I think you’ll have trouble getting him back to your chambers.”

Jon shrugged. “Probably.”

“Come.” Robb moved to the side and threw the covers back, signalising for Jon that he should join him. Jon stepped into the room, closed the door carefully and crept into bed. It had been years since the last time he had shared a bed with Robb, but once there, it felt like the most natural place to be. Robb tangled their feet together, muttering something about ‘gods, your feet are freezing’. Jon was too busy soaking up the heat he didn’t know he needed to notice.

Down on the floor, the fuzzballs had slowed down their little game and settled on the warm fur. The white one had curled itself into a ball, and the grey one was sort of wrapped around it with its head resting on the white’s neck. They were both occasionally letting out warm, contented hums.

Robb wrapped his arms around Jon, mirroring the wolves’ position.

“You decided what you’re gonna call him?” he asked, whispering not to interrupt them.

“Not really. I can’t seem to find one that fits well enough. You?”

“I don’t know. He’s a fast one, a strong one. Probably the oldest in the litter, without knowing for sure-”

“-fits you well enough then, doesn’t he?” Jon interrupted.

Robb chuckled against Jon’s neck, warm and delighted.

“Yeah, he does. Anyway, I might end up calling him ‘Wind’ or something. Since he’s so fast and powerful. It’s just that it sounds so, what can I say, little, you know? I feel like the name isn’t strong enough for him.”

“Grey wind,” Jon whispered. Robb pushed himself up on one elbow and looked down at him. He smiled, then pressed his lips together.

“Yeah. That doesn’t sound too bad.”

Jon’s smile was still nothing more than a forced twitch at the corner of his mouth. Not that it was Robb’s fault, but the adjectives he had used to describe his newest possession had reminded Jon of the differences between them. Usually he didn’t think about them, but they were becoming so much clearer lately. The finding of the direwolves had just added to the effect.

Robb sensed that something was wrong, and his smile faded.

“Jon, I’m-”

He broke off and sighed.

“I’m sorry about Theon. You know I don’t approve of him acting like that. I… am very fond of him, he’s a good friend to me, but I would do anything to make him stop what he does to you.”

Jon raised his eyebrows and said nothing. Robb grabbed him by his arms and positioned himself on top of him.

“If I could, I would’ve knocked him down right there, but when Father’s around-”

“Robb, don’t-”

“Jon.”

Robb lowered his voice and rested his forehead against his brother’s.

“I _love_ you, Jon. There’s nothing in this world I wouldn’t do for you. And despite Theon with his nasty comments, you are not a runt to the Stark litter. You belong here just as much as we do.”

“But your Mother-”

“Don’t worry about my Mother. She’s not a Stark. Not by blood, anyway.”

Jon looked away and didn’t reply. Robb sighed.

“Look at them, Jon,” Robb whispered and turned to look at the two pups on the floor. They were both sleeping now, the grey one still wrapped around the white. Jon followed his look.

“Your pup may not be exactly like the others, but he’s still a part of the litter, a part of the pack. Look how Grey Wind covers him, protects him. And they were restless all night, until you two came by and they could be together.”

Jon looked up at Robb in disbelief.

“They belong together, just like you and I.”

Jon lowered his eyes, avoiding Robb’s intense stare.

“He looks like a ghost,” he whispered.

“So why not call him that?”

Jon looked up with a frown.

“Ghost? And remind him every single day of what he is?”

“It doesn’t have to be negative. It can be to his advantage. All the others will be given away in the snow — he will be one with the nature, no one will spot him.”

“I guess…” Jon replied, voice small.

Robb smiled.

“Lighten up, will you?” he said in a playful voice, and bent down to bite Jon’s neck. Jon yelped in response and pushed him off. Robb rolled onto his back and laughed. Jon mock-punched him in the arm.

“You’re such a jerk.”

“Aw, don’t give me that.” Robb gave Jon his best puppy dog look before he broke into another smile. Jon shook his head and turned over on his side again. Robb took the hint and wrapped himself around him, one arm closing around his chest. Jon placed his own hand over Robb’s.

“You know what, you’re right, I might as well just call him Ghost,” Jon said after a minute.

“Yeah?” Robb replied, voice hopeful.

“Yeah.”

“You should stay the night, too. I mean, you’ve already made yourself comfortable and the wolves will probably wake everyone on Winterfell if we separate them now.”

Jon just nodded, already halfway into his sleep. Robb smiled against Jon’s neck and breathed in his scent. Few minutes later they were both sleeping. On the floor, the two wolves stirred ever so slightly, rearranged themselves and wrapped themselves tighter around each other. Ghost bit Grey Wind’s ear, and Grey Wind licked behind Ghost’s in return. Just like they had done every night since the day they were born.


End file.
